The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and the Rijksakademie proudly present the first installment of the ’Conversations’ series, with artist Andy Hope 1930 and art historian John C. Welchman. The ’Conversations’ series is part of Stedelijk @, the Public Program of the Temporary Stedelijk 3, and will be a recurring series of dialogues between noted artists, scholars, and curators.

Welchman, professor of Art History at the University of California, and Rijksakademie advisor, lectured on the aspect of 'language' in the oeuvre of Andy Hope 1930. The artist spoke about his work and exhibitions, including his current show at Hauser & Wirth, entitled Medley Tour London by Andy Hope 1930. The conversation was also open to questions from the audience.

More information about the speakers:

Andy Hope 1930 is a German artist who lives in Berlin. His work spans a wide range of media, including painting, drawing, film, installation, and sculpture. Appropriating images and phenomena from popular culture, such as comic books and science fiction illustration, the lead actors in his work are such odd figures as superheroes, historic villains, devils, and spaceships, which combine with the artistic gestures that can be seen in the work of Malevic, Duchamp, Ensor, or Klee. Andy Hope 1930 has exhibited internationally in both solo and group exhibitions. Some of his recent solo shows include Medley Tour London by Andy Hope 1930, Hauser & Wirth, London, England (2012); Medley Tour by Andy Hope 1930, Kestnergesellschaft, Hannover, Germany (2012); Robin Dostoyevsky by Andy Hope 1930, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, Malaga, Spain (2011); Detour – Landscape in Progress II, Kunsthistorisches Museum and CAC Contemporary Art Club at Theseustempel, Vienna, Austria (2011); Andy Hope 1930 at the Freud, Freud Museum, London, England (2011); and ON TIME, Metro Pictures, New York NY (2011). His work has been included in the collection of museums worldwide.

John C. Welchman is professor of art history in the Visual Arts department at the University of California, San Diego, and co-director of the Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts. His books include Modernism Relocated: Towards a Cultural Studies of Visual Modernity (Allen & Unwin, 1995), Invisible Colours: A Visual History of Titles (Yale, 1997), and Art After Appropriation: Essays on Art in the 1990s (Routledge, 2001). He is co-author of Dada and Surrealist Word Image (MIT Press, 1987) and Mike Kelley in the Phaidon Contemporary Artists series (1999) and the editor of Rethinking Borders (Minnesota UP/Routledge, 1996). This year, his book, XX to XXI: Essays on European Art, will be published by Akal (Madrid) in Spanish. Welchman is founder and chair of the Southern California Consortium of Art Schools and editor of its publication series for JRP|Ringier, including Recent Pasts: Art in Southern California from the 90s to Now (2005), Institutional Critique and After (2006), The Aesthetics of Risk (2008), Black Sphinx: On the Comedic in Modern Art (2010), and Public Culture in the Visual Sphere (forthcoming). He is the editor of the collected writings of Mike Kelley: Foul Perfection: Essays and Criticism (MIT Press, 2003), Minor Histories (MIT Press, 2004), and the third Mike Kelley: Interviews, Conversations, and Chit-Chat, 1988-2004 (JRP|Ringier, Zurich, 2005). His most recent book is On the Beyond: A Conversation between Mike Kelley, Jim Shaw and John C Welchman (Vienna and New York: SpringerWienNewYork, 2011).